The Yellow Deli in Honiton, Devon

Our visit - Thursday 27th March 2025

Almost too many times to count or recall we have stopped off at Honiton in Devon on our way to and from the South-West of England.

Each visit we have driven the length of the High Street and each time we have gone past a venue named ‘The Yellow Deli’. During these drive byes we have accumulated a curiosity about the place which up until very recently had not been sated. ‘Oh, its on the wrong side of the street’. ‘Shame there’s no parking nearby’. Or the ultimate assassin of life generally, time.

Our overriding question was, ‘Is it a deli, a café or both?’ We were about to find out and a bit more as well.

‘The Yellow Deli’ is in an old building that used to be a pub called ‘The Red Cow’. As befits any building over two hundred years old on such an historical High Street as Honiton’s, the exterior has remained immune to any attempts oat modernisation.

Inside it looked as if a Swiss chalet and a Hobbits home had been melded in some interior decorator’s fantasy. Lots of varnished wood, leather upholstery and hardly any straight lines to be seen apart from the tables.

The man who greeted us made me do a double take. Surely, Robin Williams could not have faked his death to find a new life in rural Devon. The look, some of the mannerisms and a soft West Coast accent set me off to expecting a comedic riff on any random subject. He directed us towards a booth and took our order.

‘You’re very welcome to have a look around’ he said ‘Go upstairs and see what we have done.’

We did. Up a wrought iron spiral staircase to the first floor. This was fitted and furnished in the same style as the ground floor. There were various paintings on the wall depicting rural scenes from days long gone. Some were generic in that they showed harvesting and planting. A couple were specific to Honiton. One was of an old butcher’s shop in the High Street and one was a homage to what Honiton used to be world famous for, lacemaking.

My wife, the man and I started to talk about the place. He told us they had taken the building over in 2016 when the pub business closed. It took them five years to then gut the building and rebuild it to their own designs and standards. Hardly any of the materials used were new or bought in specifically for the new interior. The wood was given for free in return for demolishing the barns it had been used to build.

I asked who designed and built the interior? There was a tentative pause.

‘A lot of us built this together but the majority of the work was done by…done by the man who designed and built Noah’s Ark.’

Those last words were barely audible. Almost as if they were barely believable. My wife and I looked at one another thinking the same thing. Yes, after thirty five years of marriage telepathy does kick in.

‘Did he just say something about the man who designed and built Noah’s Ark?' Yep he certainly did.

I introduced uourselves to him by name and offered my hand for a handshake as a way of thanking him for his time. My gesture was not reciprocated and nor was the offer of a high five or fist bump. He even went so far as to put his hands behind his back.

We shuffled and ushered ourselves back to our table on the ground floor where our order was waiting for us which we enjoyed while wondering about the interior designer and builder.

Before leaving we had hoped to have bought something in the ‘deli’ section such as pastries, charcuterie, different cheeses or some local preserves. Alas, the entire deli display consisted of items such as handmade soap, maple syrup from Vermont and honey from the Honiton area. All we came away with was a loaf of bread made at Stentwood Farm, Dunkerswell Near Honiton which is the home for the Yellow Deli people.

What the media say about 'The Yellow Deli' -

At home I read the pamphlet. The outlet we had visited was one of over thirty across the world from Chattanooga in Tennessee where the first deli was opened to as far away , both geographically and culturally, as Japan. This chain of deli's is not a business as such but part of a religious movement currently with three thousand members.

I checked the usual sites for reviews about the deli in Honiton, all of which were good. What also came out from those searches was not so good.

The following headline was written in 2021 soon after the deli was opened in Honiton. It was highly complimentary about the food, service and ambience but only briefly mentioned the religious aspect of the deli. There were some online commensts about how the journalist should have carried out more due diligence before going to press and there is a record of the article being revised after this sort of comment.

Fox News in October 24 ran the following headline:

The opening sentence is:

'Behind a chain serving up soups and deli sandwiches is a fundamentalist cult accused of exploiting its members - including children - for free labour.' The issue of 'free labour' is supported by the statutory accounts for branch in Honiton which show all of the costs associated with such a business apart from one cost and that is wages.

The Yellow Deli chain is run by the Twelve Tribes group. It has been described by The Southern Poverty Law Centre as 'a fundamentalist cult' as mentioned in the article attached to the following headline from NBC Boston. This article goes on to report on criticisms from the authorities in Germany who removed 40 children from one of the communes because of physical abuse. A decision upheld by the European Court of Human Rights.

The media stories about The Yellow Deli cited above are all based in America. To date (6th March 2025) no such stories or reports have emerged in the UK.